BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said it would be “very difficult” to quarantine individuals arriving in Negros Occidental once seaports and the province’s airport reopen on June 1 – when the province further downgrades to a modified general community quarantine.
Lacson admitted that even now, the provincial government was having a hard time placing returning Negrense overseas Filipino workers on quarantine.
Even so, Lacson said, the provincial government would try to get all the records of individuals entering Negros Occidental in order to use them on contact tracing, and implementing “targeted testing” for individual who would show symptoms of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
He hopes that the National Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) would allow his request to further suspend air and sea travel in Negros Occidental.
Lacson said the provincial government’s newly-established bio laboratory in Silay City will come into operation before June 1.
He added it would help them expedite the testing of returning OFWs and stranded individuals, and allow them to free up space in their quarantine facilities, since those who test negative for the virus will be allowed to return home.
The governor had earlier forwarded a proposal introducing protocols such as requiring those entering the province to undergo quarantine in order to be swabbed.
However, following pronouncements made by President Rodrigo Duterte last Monday that travel should not be hampered, Lacson conceded he would be “powerless” if the IATF rejects his proposal./PN
